It was October 2016 and we were informed that the Alarm Conference would like The Caveman to speak at their annual conference held at the University of Manchester in June the next year. Everything was agreed, hotels and parking booked and then the social media and publicity was agreed completed. #alarmrisk2017

Then before we knew it we were driving up to Manchester to deliver a “bluelight stress” talk as the Caveman Speaker.

The organisers were fantastic, they put on a do the evening before the start of the conference and looked after all their delegates. The Caveman also went along and started networking and entertaining the visitors.

Making some new friends and introducing ‘The Caveman’ to the group was a lot of fun. We made a definite impression, with loads of people asking if they could change their original choice and instead they now wanted to come to The Caveman talk instead.

It was a brilliant evening and the organisers were there to support and push the conference agenda. The end of the night came too soon, but final checks on the talk needed to be done before getting some beauty sleep.

The following day visiting the conference as a delegate, was a name badge shouting “SPEAKER” to anyone who looked, brought some smiles and a great start to conversations.

Gerald Ashley kindly kicked off the conference with his keynote speech and we could see the delegates were clearly getting into the conference. There was more networking, coffee, biscuits and more seminars and talks to listen to.

We got to lunchtime quickly and then it was time, when the Caveman took control! The bluelight stress talk was planned and had been practised and we were ready to rock!

Delegates arrived and the talk began, with one change to the request by the chaperone – “keep your phone on, and we want you to Tweet!” The reason? Well there was a bottle of wine on offer by the conference for the best tweet and we wanted the winner to be sat in the room!

The talk went as rehearsed with a quick intro and the first question put to the room “What makes humans different to animals?” Loads of great answers and humour to be had.

The talk was in full flow, loads of engagement by the room, laughter and “wow’s” were heard. Before we knew it, the hour was up and people were clapping.

The end of the hour saw people queuing up to speak to The Caveman and to take his business card. Hand shakes and thanks galore!